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New Voices at the Civic Table
Project
Initiatives:
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Council for Family and
Child Caring Agencies, New York, New York
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El Centro, Kansas
City, Kansas
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Family and Children’s
Service, Minneapolis, Minnesota
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Family and Community
Service of Delaware County, Chester, Pennsylvania
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Family Services of
Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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Turning Point Center
for Youth and Family Development, Fort Collins, Colorado
The
Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies -- New York, NY:
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The Council of Family
and Child Caring Agencies (COFCCA) collaborated with the Agenda for
Children Tomorrow (ACT) IMPACT (Informing More Parents Across the
Community Together) Family Resource Center to prepare parents in the
Bushwick community in New York City to form a Child Care Speakers
Bureau. The primary goal of the program was to inform and empower,
and build skills with a core group of parents to become advocates
for quality, affordable child care and add their voices to the
current advocacy community.
Several strategies led up to the development of Parent Voices, a
newly formed organizing committee. Using a bilingual,
semi-structured curriculum with experienced facilitators from ACT’s
IMPACT, along with expert consultants employing simultaneous
translation, the collaboration held an orientation and six, three
hour training sessions that provided parents with a support network
of shared experience, knowledge and awareness of child care issues
in the community and the political arena, and opportunities to
practice skills through assigned outside activities. A second phase
of the pilot project focused on Actions which included phone calls
to government offices, press engagements, a city wide rally, and
formal induction of the Parent Voices project. Built into this
process was a more formalized evaluation that offered participants
and staff involved in the project opportunities to reflect on their
experience and what they learned.
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Parents participate in
an activity during a training session.
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New friendships are formed
among parent participants working together to improve
child care in their community.
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Parents of the
Bushwick community are learning how to advocate for
themselves and their children.
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El
Centro -- Kansas City, KS:
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El Centro and the Kansas Immigrant Justice Coalition partnered on an initiative to modify, expand, and implement a Spanish-language leadership training program to support leaders in the immigrant community as well as
support additional outreach and mobilization for statewide efforts targeting immigration policy reform and to encourage civic
participation and voter registration among young adults and new citizens.
The goals of the initiative were to:
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Increase civic
participation and political power of Latino immigrants in Kansas.
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Provide leadership and civic participation opportunities.
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Reach out to immigrant communities and build an influential constituency base.
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Enhance the capacity of immigrant communities and organizations around the state to engage in civic participation and policy change.
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Develop a replicable model of civic engagement for immigrant populations.
To achieve these goals El Centro completed work on the development of a training program in both Spanish and English, designed to register Latino and new citizen voters, hosted workshops and community fundraisers, and supported legislative efforts.
Family
& Children’s Service -- Minneapolis, MN:
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The New Hmong Voices at the Civic Table initiative identified a need within Northern Minneapolis to create an organized group within the growing Hmong community of refugees. Family and Children’s Services and the Southeast Asian Community Council (SEACC) garnered support from several funding agencies to:
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Educate new Hmong refugees about government and service systems so that they can work within these systems and advocate on their own behalf.
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Provide training to Hmong refugees in the community that strengthen leadership and build civic participation as well as mobilize the community to prioritize issues and take action.
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Establish working, mutually-beneficial relationships between community members, public officials and service providers to achieve system change.
The initiative centered on a six-month training program that included weekly two-hour training sessions. The curriculum employed an “education through experience” model to increase awareness and knowledge about government and nonprofit systems, leadership, community building and community organizing. In addition to weekly training sessions, the group participated in outside community-based activities with advocacy components for issues affecting immigrant families, using these experiences to determine the next steps in their organizing efforts. The constituents applied their leadership skills by hosting and facilitating public forums for government leaders, service providers, press and community members.
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Participants learn about communication and organizing
strategies at their weekly meeting.
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Nhia Lee (left) is Lead Community Builder at Family & Children’s Service. Jennifer Blevins (right) is Director of Community and Systems Change at Family & Children’s Service. |
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Family
and Community Service of Delaware County -- Media, PA:
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Family and Community Service of Delaware County (FCSDC) partnered with the AIDS
Consortium of Delaware County (ACDC) in an effort to provide leadership and advocacy training for individuals who are HIV+ in the County and assist them in identifying opportunities for civic participation. The main objectives of the initiative were to:
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Increase the capacity and effectiveness of participants in their public and political lives.
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Assist participants in building on their individual and collective assets by implementing an advocacy activity.
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Increase civic participation activities of the HIV/AIDS population in Delaware
County.
Through the FCSDC and ACDC initiative, a clinical psychologist (and long time AIDS activist) was hired to present educational material, co-facilitate a six-week Leadership Training workshop, and prepare a follow-up session in conjunction with a constituent-client assistant. Topics included building good communication, developing leadership skills, defining advocacy, identifying issues and developing an advocacy plan.
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Patricia Lavin is Director of Professional Services for Family and Community Service of
Delaware County |
Erica Silver is an HIV/AIDS Case Manager and Supervisor for Family and Community Service of
Delaware County |
Gregg Mitchell is Program Manager of the Ralph Moses House, Family and Community Service of Delaware County’s transitional housing facility for homeless men with HIV/AIDS |
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Family
Services of Western Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh, PA:
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The Family Services New Voices at the Civic Table (“Family Services New Voices”) project was designed to develop capacity among consumers of mental health services to advocate among state, local and federal officials for support of issues that concern them, such as funding for mental health services. In addition to Family Services of Western Pennsylvania, the Family Services New Voices project linked to two existing Pittsburgh region projects: the Centers of Excellence (COE)
project, which represents a multi-year collaboration of six mental health providers and consumers to promote a recovery model
orientation across the mental health system, and the Mental Health Association of Allegheny County, which serves an ongoing mission of advocacy in the mental health field.
The Family Services New Voices project focused on two strategies for civic
participation:
The Family Services New Voices project planning process involved the creation of a project committee of consumers and staff involved in the COE collaboration whose primary responsibilities were to organize the training event and advocacy opportunities. The second phase of the Family Services New Voices project was to conduct a 3 ½ hour workshop on advocacy. The advocacy training and workshop curriculum integrated didactic components with interactive sessions involving staff and consumers focused on the “how-tos” of advocacy in the legislative arena. The final component of the Family Services New Voices project was to link up with already planned efforts to provide opportunities to utilize advocacy skills and to evaluate this process. Constituents attended two scheduled lobbying days in Harrisburg and met with legislators to discuss mental health issues.
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Participants Robin and
Cheryl
serve on the consumer/staff planning committee,
recruit additional participants for trainings, and
set legislative priorities. |
Consumers at Family
Services of Western Pennsylvania advocate for improved
funding for mental health services and the advancement
of recovery in their state. |
Stephanie Santoro is the
Psychosocial Rehabilitation Specialist at Family
Services
of Western Pennsylvania. |
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Turning
Point Center for Youth and Family Development -- Fort Collins, CO:
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Turning Point Center for
Youth and Family Development (Turning Point) partnered with the
Institute on the Common Good (ICG) to increase participation in the
community of adolescents in residential treatment programs and their
supports. The Turning Point Dialogues encouraged
youth to further their success in the program by identifying and
becoming involved in a community volunteer project. They used
dialogue and trainings to “give a voice” to staff, clients, and
families around issues that are salient in their lives and identify
significant social issues to engage youth with their community.
Six dialogues were designed with three overarching goals in mind:
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Build a strong support
network that cooperates to help the adolescents once they leave the
program.
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Develop improved,
long-term connections and community support for participants, their
families, and their community.
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Develop a model that
is effective and replicable in other communities.
The Turning Point
Dialogues used an intensive recruitment process that involved
interviewing constituents and support systems, followed by a series of
five dialogues and two “learning journeys,” (i.e. experiential
opportunities in the community) as well as on-going weekly contact with
participants. “Learning journeys” and dialogues provided youth with
opportunities to work towards a community volunteer project. Throughout
the recruitment, training and experiential components, Turning Point
staff used weekly, one-to-one contact to build rapport.
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